The Problem With Leo Valdez
by Adamus
Summary: Summary To Come
1. Leo: I

The Problem With Leo Valdez

**Disclaimer:** _All characters[aside from a few OC's] belong to RR._  
_Leo Valdez is-unfortunetly- not my creation as with the other demigod characters._  
_They're pretty cool, though._  
_Good job, Rick._

**A/N:** This story has no particular timeline, but it does take place after The House of Hades. Percy & Annabeth are out of Tartarus, Nico and Reyna are now back from CHB, but other than that I'm not sure where these events would actually happen.  
Let's just forget about dates, eh?  
This is a fanfiction, after all.

* * *

**Chapter: I**  
**LEO**

_**Eidolons in the Night**_

Leo should have known something was wrong as soon as he heard that annoying hissing sound from behind his bedroom door. He should have 'fired up' when he heard someone talking to him, wondering if he was awake or not.

Leo Valdez should have known he was in trouble, but all the clues flew right over his head in his attempts to sneak in just a few extra minutes of sleep.

_Is he sleeping?_

_Yes, you fool. Do not speak further, you will wake him!_

_He does not look like the one we're searching for. There is children of Poseidon and Jupiter on this ship, why don't we-_

_The other two are strong enough to resist, you know that. Earth Mother said that the child of Hephaestus would be the Seven's downfall, do you wish to go against her orders and capture the other two instead? I am sure she would be pleased to find that you went against her word._

_No, no of course not!_

_Good, now be quiet and let me do my work._

Leo turned in his sleep, giving a muffled "Go away, Buford" as he shoved his face against the pillow. In an hour or so he'd have to get out of bed and raise the anchor so the Argo II could set sail again, but it felt like only five minutes had passed since he closed his eyes.

No... no, that wasn't right. It had been about thirty.

He had been so desperate to make it to Athens ahead of schedule to impress everyone, the thought of actually sleeping hadn't been on his mind until Annabeth had pointed out how tired he looked.

Leo Valdez: putting people ahead of himself since he'd been guilt tripped into it after sending his friends to Tartarus.

_Brother, I believe you woke him._

_Hush! He is asleep._

One of the two dark mist figures crept closer to where the son of Hephaestus lay. _Look,_ it said, sounding rather proud of itself, _The child is completely-_

"Hello?" Leo yawned, rolling over onto his back and rubbing his eyes, "Yo, Frank if that's you trying to kill me or something..." he mumbled, his words rolling off into a snore.

The second figure drooped in the air. _That is what Earth Mother requested? He does not seem very capable of what is expected of him._

"Dude, stop talking... trying to sleep." Leo said, now sounding a little bit more awake than he had before. "Are we being attacked again? Those stupid... thing-a-ma-whats..."

_And now you will hurry up so I may leave_. The second figure stated to the other.

_Why are you even here? You are not helpful to me, I know what I need to do without your narration._

_Then go._

"Uhg, how many times do I have to-" Leo growled, beginning to sit up in his bed just as the first dark figure went towards him. The second the mist creature and the demigod made contact, the figure vanished and Leo went limp, slumping back towards the mattress without a second of fighting back.

The remaining figure paused. _Brother? Did it work?_

After a few moments of silence, Leo's eyes flickered open. He looked nearly the same as he had before, but the difference was his eyes. The former dark brown had changed to a bright golden colour, seemingly glowing in the dark as they examined the room.

"_He is odd_." The boy stated, the voice sounding from his mouth was no longer his.

_Oh! So it worked! _The mist figure exclaimed happily.

"_Of course it did, idiot_." Leo snapped, "_Now leave. Tell Earth Mother that the task should be carried out shortly. I do not plan on being figured out as easily as our brothers._"

_Good luck! _The figure cheered before slipping away into the shadows.

Still with his golden eyes shining bright, Leo flexed his fingers and watched as strings of flame came sprouting out from them.

"_He is an easy one to control._"


	2. Leo: II

The Problem With Leo Valdez

Disclaimer: _All characters[aside from a few OC's] belong to RR._  
_Leo Valdez is-unfortunately- not my creation as with the other demigod characters._  
_They're pretty cool, though._  
_Good job, Rick._

**A/N:** This chapter consists of Leo wondering why there's so many pencils on the ship and acting like an idiot  
Oh, and a little bit of Hazel's 'controlling the Mist' stuff, too.  
I promise the next chapter will be much better.

* * *

**Chapter: II**  
**LEO**

_**Illusions In The Morning**_

Leo woke up to the sound of someone attacking the bedroom door.

He glanced over at the electronic clock beside his bed and groaned in annoyance when the time flashed 5:14 AM.  
Not only had he woken up early, but he earned a rude awakening as well.

"What do you want?" Leo called, tossing the blankets off him and groggily walking over to the door so he could open it. His feet crunched on crumpled up pieces of paper and dull pencils that he had at some point thrown on the floor.

Why was anyone awake, anyway? He was aware that Percy and Annabeth were recently both experiencing night terrors (obviously, they had just gotten out of Tartarus) but never did either of them come to _Leo_ for comfort.  
He was probably the last one on their _People To Go So I'll Feel Better _lists.  
Heck, who was he kidding? Leo wasn't on the lists at all.

The boy swung open the door and glared at... no one? He looked behind him in case Buford had been the one throwing a fit in the hall, but the table was nowhere to be seen.  
_No one_ was seen.

Leo's brow furrowed, "Bet it was Jason." he grumbled, swinging the door shut again and turning back towards his bed. "Ooh, let's play nicky-nicky-nine-doors on Leo! Hehe, won't that be fun, Piper? Let's be funny." Leo muttered, mimicking Jason's voice. If his memories were right (which a lot of them weren't, thanks to Hera) he and the son of Jupiter were best friends.  
Jason, however, was absolutely terrible when it came to pranks.

Leo was the funny guy one the ship. Jason was a blond version of superman. It was just better if the two stuck within their own categories.

Leo rolled his eyes, tapping his fingers rapidly on his pajama pants as he thought. Wouldn't he have at least _heard_ Jason running away if it had been him? He could have flown or something, Leo assumed...  
He was way over thinking it.

"Not funny, Jason! ... Or Piper." Leo shouted, just in case either of the two really were snickering outside of the room.  
"Or... whatever." The boy added in a mutter, kicking one of the crumpled pieces of paper on the floor with his foot. The garbage rolled under his bed, sneaking into the shadows that, according to Leo, were secret portals that somehow got rid of the trash in his room.  
If he couldn't see it, it didn't exist anymore. All problems solved.

Leo shook his head. He had the attention span of a walnut. A peanut? Hazelnut, maybe.

The sudden thought made something click in his brain.

Hazelnut...  
_Hazel_nut...  
Hazel...  
Oh, right. Hazel.

He had to apologize to her.

Leo frowned as he glanced over at his bed. Sleep sounded so good to him right now, but then again he couldn't let his current situation with the daughter of Pluto continue with it's dead silence.  
Heh... _dead_. Pluto. Leo chuckled to himself.

The boy had been talking to Hazel normally not even a full day ago. Then, at dinner, he had gone and said something stupid that upset her.  
Maybe making jokes about the girl's boyfriend wasn't such a good idea, but how was _Leo_ of all people supposed to be aware of that?  
Of course Frank had already made it clear that he didn't appreciate Leo's humor, but it had been an innocent little joke that Leo had assumed would be taken lightly.

Still, he felt a stab of guilt when Hazel had refused to talk to him all throughout the rest of the evening. He had to apologize for it, to make the pesky little feeling go away.  
Apologizing to Frank too was a good idea. Leo didn't feel like getting on the bad side of a son of Mars.

* * *

_Tap-tap-tap_

Leo fumbled with the buckle of his toolbelt as he tried to fasten it around his waist. He needed to get to Hazel's room so he could say he said his apologies to Frank, then go to Frank's room so he could really say his apologies.  
He didn't have time for uncooperative toolbelts.

_Tap-tap-tap_

It was such an easy thing to do.  
Just fasten the stupid belt buckle already, the boy thought to himself. He needed the lights on to see what the heck he was doing.

His hands weren't working with him, though. They just kept fumbling with the metal and shaking as he tried to stick it into the right spot.

_Tap-tap-tap_

Suddenly Leo dropped the toolbelt entirely. With a _thud_ it dropped to the floor, landing in a circle around the boy's shoes.  
He looked down at it, scowled, and bent down to pick it up.

_Tap-tap-tap_

When his legs stopped moving, Leo became aware that the footsteps he was hearing weren't his own. He narrowed his eyes as he snatched his toolbelt off the ground and hastily clamped it around his waste. Thankfully, this time his fingers didn't resist what he was trying to get them to do.  
It was probably just one of his friends trying to scare him, right? There was no way that a monster could get aboard the ship... unless it had wings and a good sense of smell.

The boy looked behind him and, with pure confusion, saw a shadow following him. Not a person, not an object, not some weird machine he had left lying around that found out how to walk.  
It was just... a shadow.

Leo blinked. When his eyes opened, the shadow seemingly vanished.  
Was he hallucinating? It would explain why no one was outside in the hall when he had checked earlier, but the thought wasn't very comforting. Hearing and seeing things, how terrific.  
He shook his head and shrugged it off. Obviously he was bound to go crazy for real some time, maybe it was better that it was happening now.

He turned around and was about to take a step forward when he walked right into something.

What a daring hero he was.

"Stay back!" Leo snapped, grasping for a weapon from his toolbelt. When his hand whipped out of the pocket, the object clutched in his fingers wasn't what he had intended it to be.

"Breath mints?" A familiar voice laughed, breaking Leo's serious '_I'm ready to fight you_' attitude.

The lights in the hall flickered on and suddenly people began appearing around him. There was Piper, Jason, Percy, and Hazel.  
Percy was the one who was laughing.

"C'mon Leo, don't you have anything better than that?" He asked, folding his arms over his chest.

Hazel casted him an annoyed glance, "You broke it, Percy." she complained.

The son of Poseidon held his hands up in the air, "What? Oh. Sorry."

"Good show! Man, Leo was totally-"

"The Mist?" Leo asked, interrupting Piper's sentence. He felt his shoulders sag as he stuffed the package of breath mints back into the toolbelt.

Hazel nodded, "Impressive?"

"More like annoying." Leo grumbled, scratching the back of his neck, "Was all that really necessary."

Piper rolled her eyes, "Aw don't be like that, Valdez! Look how good Hazel's gotten, you've gotta give her credit for it."

"I thought I was gonna die."

"Well if you really planned on using mints as your defense..." Jason said, raising an eyebrow in amusement. Percy grinned and nudged his arm, "They're great Life Savers, Jason." he laughed.  
The son of Jupiter didn't get the joke. "Excuse me?"  
"You know... the mint." Percy explained. Jason just stared at him blankly.

Leo shot an angry look at them, "That wasn't funny."

"Well _sorry_." Percy grumbled, looking a bit offended by the criticize of his comedic skills.

"Not you." Leo snapped. He looked over at Hazel. "Why'd you do your freaky Mist stuff on me?"

"I was just- ..._Freaky_?" Hazel repeated with a hint of surprise in her voice, "So now you think I'm a freak?"

Piper looked back and forth between Hazel and Leo. She blinked, then a slight frown spread across her face.  
"I'm sure Leo didn't mean it like that, Hazel." Piper said reassuringly, and Leo could detect the charmspeak in her voice. When he did, his body instantly stiffened. It felt like alarm bells were going off, but he had no idea what was causing them. Piper wasn't dangerous. She was trying to help.  
Leo had already made such a mess of things with Hazel during the dinner last night, he was thankful that Piper was trying to mend things a bit for him.

_The charmspeaker._ A voice in his head thought randomly, causing the boy a moment of hesitation before he replied to Piper's attempt in settling things.

"What? Yeah! Of course I didn't mean it that way, Hazel. What I meant was-"

_Stay away from the charmspeaker. _

Immediately Leo glanced over at Piper with a look of confusion mixed with curiosity. Her?

_She is no good._

Leo's brow furrowed.

_Nothing she says can be trustworthy._

Of course she's trustworthy, Leo argued.

"Leo?" Hazel interrupted. The boy's eyes darted back towards her direction. "Are you going to finish talking or...?"

_It is time to go._ His brain shouted him. All of a sudden Leo felt an urge to get as far away from Piper as he could. He had tons of time to talk to Hazel, and heck, he wasn't even mad about her using the Mist on him anymore.  
He just wanted to leave.

"I'm gonna raise the anchor." Leo announced. All four of the demigods around him showed confused expressions.

"Dude, don't you think you owe Hazel an apology?" The son of the sea god told him.

Leo waved it off and began running towards the stairs. "We gotta get to Athens!" Was his only answer.

Hazel's gaze dropped to the ground, "He doesn't seem okay."

"And you put up with that guy for how long?" Percy asked Jason, who in return just narrowed his eyes.

Hazel looked over at Piper, "Do you think he's alright?"

The daughter of Aphrodite shook her head, "Not completely."


	3. Piper: III

**The Problem With Leo Valdez**  
Disclaimer: _All characters[aside from a few OC's] belong to RR._  
_Leo Valdez is-unfortunetly- not my creation as with the other demigod characters._  
_They're pretty cool, though._  
_Good job, Rick._

A/N: Thank you to the people that left reviews! I guess it would have made more sense of the Eidolon had taken Leo straight to Gaea, but I have some stuff planned before the story gets to that part. Maybe a few more chapters?  
People need to get hurt first before the real heartbreaks can begin, guys.

Also, I need to start memorizing the Roman Numerals. What's after VI?

* * *

**Chapter: III**  
**PIPER**

_**Problems**_

"Valdez, can I talk with you for a minute?" Piper's voice rang out as she tried to find her friend. He had told her that he was going to raise the anchor, but the _Argo II _was docked in the sky, not water.

If he was going to lie, he could have at least put some effort in to it.

Still, he had been acting so oddly earlier... it worried her. It wasn't weird for Leo to be... well, _weird_, but running out like that wasn't like him.

"Maybe he went back to bed?" Hazel offered, flicking on the lights in the dining hall as they entered the room. Piper shook her head, a slight frown was visible on her face.

"He's just hiding somewhere."

"You know that he doesn't need to apologize to me, right? I guess I _am _a bit freaky with this whole Mist stuff." The daughter of Pluto admitted, tugging on a few strands of her curly hair as she thought about the situation.

Piper looked down at her, "Being able to control the Mist isn't freaky, Hazel. That'd be like saying my charmspeaking is evil. Besides, what you can do helps us a lot. Remember, you're a big reason why Percy and Annabeth are back."

Hazel lifted her shoulders a little bit, "You think?" she asked, her face beaming.

"Levesque, I _know_." Piper nodded, nudging her friend with her arm, "And Leo does owe you a few words, he's been a grump this morning."

"To be fair I probably scared him."

"The kid slept in sewers, Hazel. Nothing should scare him."

The daughters of Aphrodite and Pluto went silent for a few minutes as the continued to wander around the ship in the search for Leo.

Normally whenever the guy went missing, the first place to check was the engine room. However, when Piper swung open the door the only thing she saw was Buford, Leo's table pet thing that to be honest, creeped her out a bit.

Tables were meant for putting stuff on, not cleaning windows and asking for Pine-Sol.

"...I think he went back to bed." Hazel finally announced, repeating her guess from earlier.

Piper closed the engine room door and rubbed her forehead with her hand. "Where would he _be_?" She murmured, wondering if Leo had built some secret passageways into the ship that no one knew about.

"How about we check his room?" Hazel offered. She now sounded a bit annoyed that the other girl wasn't listening to her, but there was no trace of anger in her tone.

Piper glanced over at her. "I'm sure there's much better places to hide."

"Who say's he's hiding?"

The girl paused and thought for a moment before nodding.

"Let's go check it out, then."

* * *

"You open it." Hazel said, taking a step away from Leo's door and pushing Piper towards it.

Piper lowered an eyebrow. "What, you're scared?"

"No way, but Leo smells enough just as it. Imagine what his _room_ is like." Hazel said, plugging her nose shut with her fingers.

Piper rolled her eyes but cracked a smile, "I didn't need that thought, thanks." she chuckled, reaching out to the doorknob and twisted it so the door would open.

Immediately the two girls stepped back.

"Oh my gods, is it bad?" Hazel asked, squeezing her eyes shut and covering her mouth, "I can't look."

Piper's shoulders drooped. "What did he do...?" The girl whispered, cautiously taking a few steps foward.  
The smell was awful, that was certain. But the room didn't stink in the way either of them had expected. It smelled like... fire. The burns on the walls, floor, and desk chair looked like Leo had personally attacked all of them.  
It was if he had 'flamed up' and saw his room as a battle ground.

"Holy Pluto." Hazel gasped as she stepped up besides Piper. "Maybe he sneezed too hard?"

Piper was too busy examining the room to reply to Hazel's comment. The place itself was a complete mess, but the odd thing was that it looked like someone had purposefully trashed it. Papers had been wiped clean off Leo's desk and scattered all over the floor. Pencils had pens had been snapped in half, also covering the floor. Clothing items were burned, diagrams were ripped up.

"Gods, I hope it's not always like this." Hazel remarked, looking at a hand print scorched in the wall.

Piper knew that it wasn't. She had been in the room yesterday afternoon, and back then it had been near spotless. It was like the disaster zone had just happened over night.

"I'm going to talk to Jason." Piper announced, turning back towards the hallway. Hazel quickly caught up with her.

"What? Aren't we kind of busy at the moment?"

"He might know where Leo is, they're best friends."

Hazel made a face. "I always thought _you _and Leo were best friends."

Piper blinked, "They were buddies since Leo came to the Wilderness school, Hazel. That's long before I did."

The daughter of Pluto reached for a strand of her curly hair and began twirling it in her fingers. "Oh, well... I guess some of your memories are still fuzzy thanks to Juno's fantastic plan, but _you've _known Leo longer. Come on, don't you think you have any idea where he is?"

Piper's eyes narrowed. She knew that Hera had toggled with her memories, but meeting Jason and Leo felt so... _real_. Even after learning of the truth that Jason had just been edited in to her life.  
She had felt like a outsider complete outsider hanging around with the two boys. They acted like they were brothers, she was just the new kid desperate for friends.  
Dylan had been bothering her none stop since she showed up at the school, though, and all of a sudden Jason and Leo came in and told the guy to knock it off. Leo had actually thrown a screwdriver at him at one point, gods know where he got it from...

It hadn't been real.

"Piper, are you okay?" Hazel asked, snapping the daughter of Aphrodite out of her thoughts.

She nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just thinking about where he'd be."

"You know... I guess it doesn't really matter." Hazel said suddenly, shrugging her shoulders. "I mean, he'll show up when he wants to, right? We can ask him then."

Piper frowned. "I'd prefer if he gave an explanation _now_." She sighed, "Honestly I don't know why he'd do this."

"Maybe his power just went wacko for a few minutes?" Hazel tried to reason. "Hey! He might have been acting weird because that's what happened!"

"Maybe." Piper allowed, staring at all the burn marks in dismay. "But..."

Hazel's shoulders sagged, "But _what_?"

"I just- why wouldn't he tell someone?"

"Apparently he thought someone was going to kill him, so..." Hazel reminded her. "Not much time for explaining?"

Piper rolled her eyes, "You know what I mean, Levesque."

"Alright, alright! What do you think happened then, Miss I-Now-Know-Everything?"

"I don't know."

"Well that's certainly helpful." Hazel snorted, folding her arms across her chest. "How about we ask Leo when he shows up instead of getting tangled in it now? He was right about what he said earlier, we need to get to Athens."

Piper sighed, "I know."

* * *

"This is ridiculous." Annabeth growled. She was glaring at the controls to the ship with such frustration that Piper fully expected her to punch one of the screens.

"Hey, just send an Iris Message to Coach Hedge if you're so confused." She offered, reaching for a drachma from her pocket. "Iris can't be too affected by the Greek and Roman stuff, right?"

Annabeth furiously stabbed at a few buttons. "No, I know how to work this, Piper. It's the stupid screens that aren't cooperating."

Piper raised an eyebrow. "The screens?" Last time she checked (which admittedly wasn't often... or at all) ships didn't need screens or computers to function. Especially in the _engine_ room... where the actual _engine_ to the ship was along with other explosive things.  
Then again, it had to be accounted for that _Leo_ was the one who had designed the thing. Shaking a certain Wii remote would flush the toilets and saying 'turtle' would turn off all the lights, for pete's sake.

"They're not showing what I'm asking them to." Annabeth hissed as she typed something on the iPad keyboard. Seconds after she stabbed 'enter' pictures of kittens popped up on the computer screen in front of her.  
"Look at that!" Annabeth snapped, clicking off the iPod and shoving it away from her. "What in the name of Athena did Leo do?"

Piper frowned. Leo, unfortunately, was still M.I.A.  
If he was there with them at the moment, though, Piper was sure that Annabeth would smack him up-side the face.

"Here. Just sent an Iris Message to Hedge asking him what commands to put down." The girl said, taking the drachma out of her pocket and tossing it to Annabeth.

The blonde turned it around in her fingers before leaving the engine room. "He's probably too busy challenging the Ares kids to sword fights..." The daughter of Athena grumbled as she walked out the door.

Now alone, Piper slid into the seat Annabeth had sat in and began typing away at the computer. Surely working a complicated thing such as the _Argo II_ wasn't as hard as it sounded, right?  
Piper could talk people into giving her cars. Making a fancy little ship agree with her should be a cake-walk.

**404 Bad Gateway**  
Was what showed up on the screen.

Piper narrowed her eyes and typed the command again.

**Perhaps you meant: **_How many elephants are in a herd?_

Was this really what Leo programmed it to do? Search for _elephants_ of all things?

Sighing, she tried again.

**Hm... so that wasn't it. Let's try again?**

Now Piper was getting annoyed. She typed in a new command, which requested turning on the lights in the mess hall.

**Can't do that! Here, would you like to look at kittens instead?**

A Google webpage popped up on the screen and Siamese kittens were the images that it displayed.

Still optimistic, Piper tried again.

**You would like to access security footage? Here, let's take a look at [_Leo Valdez_]'s room! Hopefully no monsters are attacking, am I right?**

The webpage closed and the video popped up. Since Piper had seen it before, she wasn't surprised when the disaster-zone of a room began playing.  
It was hardly passing as a bedroom in the first place, Leo had made it worse by adding his own personal touches to it.

Frustrated, Piper leaned back in the chair and uttered a few choice words. She obviously didn't know how to get the system working, Annabeth was having trouble, and Leo was...

Piper's eyes widened when they drifted towards the screen.

"Oh my gods..." She whispered, bolting up from the chair.


	4. Piper: IV

The Problem With Leo Valdez

Disclaimer: _All characters[aside from a few OC's] belong to RR._  
_Leo Valdez is-unfortunately- not my creation as with the other demigod characters._  
_They're pretty cool, though._  
_Good job, Rick._

A/N: Whoo, quick update! I felt bad about the whole cliff hanger thing, and sorry if this chapter doesn't really live up to your expecatations?  
No one dies or gets seriously injured is what I'm trying to say.

Also, I don't know if the chapter order with go like: Leo, Leo, Piper, Piper, all the time, but I guess that it's a start. Probably no one else besides those two will have POV's, but please don't get the idea that this story is going to be a 'romance' type thing between Leo and Piper because really it's not.  
It's about friendship.

Anywho, thanks for the kind reviews(for all the previous). Honestly I didn't expect people to leave them, so it's nice to log in and see that there's some there!

Seriously though does anyone know what's after VI?

* * *

**Chapter: IV**  
**PIPER**

**Worries**

Piper didn't stop and explain to Annabeth why exactly she was running like a madman, but it was clear that the daughter of Athena knew what was going on.

"Do you know where Leo is?" Annabeth called, though not following Piper as she ran for the stairs.

"Just focus on getting the controls working!" Piper shouted back, taking a second to stop in her tracks and give a thumbs up to the blonde who had a worried expression on her face.

Sure, Leo was in the middle of throwing fireballs around his room, but Annabeth didn't need to know about that.

Before the other girl could press the conversation further, Piper disappeared down the stairs.

Leo... what did he think he was doing? Sure, he was the one who built the ship and considered himself 'captain', but even he should have known that his fire abilities weren't to be used freely while aboard the _Argo II_.  
What was he doing using it... again?

Multiple questions raced through Piper's head as she ran to where her friend was. Past the Galley, Frank's room... Percy's room... Leo.

The door, although being open on the monitor, was shut.

"Leo?" Piper said, pounding on the door impatiently. "Valdez you in there?"

Of course he was in there. She had just seen him trying to set his bed up in flames.

"...Valdez!" Piper called, slamming her fist against the wooden door. The surface felt hot, and an instruction about what to do if there was ever a fire at the Wilderness School played back in her mind.

Unfortunately, 'Jump out the window, cupcakes! Every man for himself!' was the only thing her mind deemed worthy to remember.

Piper was about to reach for the doorknob and open the door herself when Leo did it for her from the other side.

"Hi." The boy cautiously, poking his head out.

Piper lowered an eyebrow. "Open the door."

Leo frowned. "That's not a good idea."

"I saw the fire Leo." Piper snapped, pushing the door open and sending Leo stumbling backwards into the knocked over desk chair.

He tried to straighten himself, but was already too unsteady and ending up falling to the floor.

"I didn't say you could come in!" He snapped, quickly jumping to his feet and putting the chair back into it's place at the desk. "Hence why I didn't say '_Hey Piper, come on in!'_ when you knocked."

Piper narrowed her eyes. Nothing in the room was on the verge of burning to ash at the moment. There was no fires, no smoke, nothing aside from the burns on the walls that Piper had already seen.

"What did you do?"

Leo lowered an eyebrow. "A little bit of clarification would help me answer that, you know."

"Leo, I _saw_ you using your fir-"

The son of Hephaestus shot her a cold look that didn't quite suit him. "Were you seriously _spying_ on me?"

Piper blinked. "No! Not intentionally... the computer brought the surveillance video up. Anyway Leo that isn't the point I'm trying to-"

"The ship's system doesn't do anything without being told to." Leo pointed out angrily. "Don't lie to me, Piper."

The daughter of Aphrodite clenched her first. He wasn't having a word of anything she said.

"Could you at least explain these, then?" Piper snapped, pointing her hand to the burnt markings on the wall.

Leo squinted at them as if he had forgotten they were there. "I probably had a nightmare or something and freaked out, no harm done."

"Probably? You mean you don't know?"

The boy sighed. "I don't see why this is such a big deal for you."

"Answer me, please." Piper told him, allowing a bit of charmspeak to slip into her voice. Normally she was against controlling people, but it was obvious that Leo wasn't going to tell her what she wanted to know.

However, as soon as the words left her mouth a look of recognition flashed on Leo's face.

For a second the son of Hephaestus almost looked conflicted, as if he was aware of the charmspeak and wanted to give in, but something was ordering him not to.

"I don't remember." Was his answer. Whether it was honest or not Piper couldn't tell, he didn't even look that sincere as he spoke the words.

Piper was so stuck in her frustration that she wanted to scream. He wasn't telling her anything! What did a simple 'I don't know' get her? She felt like she was forever stuck on Square One, Leo had designing the game to never let her advance.

Honestly, she wasn't sure why all of this mattered. Was it because he had acted rudely to Hazel? The daughter of Pluto could easily sort that out by herself.

Was it the rather offensive joke he had made to Frank? Surely a son of Mars didn't need an Aphrodite kid interfiering.

It sounded lame that her only reason for nagging at Leo at the moment was because he was... what? Acting different? It had only been a few hours since either of them woke up, since his 'different' started. What kind of reasoning was that?

He was _always_ acting different. The kid was constantly changing, switching gears and always on the move _to be_ different.

It was hardly fair to call him out for it.

"Piper," Leo said, snapping the girl out of her thoughts. "I don't know what you're expecting me to say, but I'd appriciate if you left me alone now." Although she felt like the words were supposed to sound genuine, Piper couldn't help getting the impression they were pulled right off a script.

Piper watched him for a few seconds before nodding.

"You're right... I'm sorry."

As she turned around to leave and was just about to walk out into the hallway again, Piper remembered that the ship still wasn't moving.

"Oh! And Leo-" She said, whipping around to face her friend. She stopped talking when a shine caught her eye, like the glittering of gold.

"Yeah, what?" Leo snapped. His face was no longer pointed towards her, so all she saw was the back of him as he pulled the blankets over his bed.

"Annabeth needs help getting the ship moving. Can you-"

"Use the Wii remote that has the blue case."

"But aren't you going to-"

"The A button will start the engines up, and Festus already knows where to go so don't worry about steering or anything." Leo explained, still not looking at her.

She had made him angry at her, hadn't she?

Of course she had.

Piper dropped her eyes to the floor and turned around back towards the hall.

"Thanks."

* * *

Jason and Frank were both alongside Annabeth now, but both of them seemed to be having the same luck with the computer that Piper and her had had.

"Have any of you seen a Wii remote?" Piper asked, scratching the back of her head as she walked up to them.

Frank looked around him and shrugged, Jason cast her a curious look.

"We don't have time to play virtual bowling at the moment." The son of Jupiter told her. "Maybe if we're not all dead within the next few weeks or so, we can have tournament."

Annabeth's eyes widened. "The one with the blue case, you mean?"

Piper nodded.

The daughter of Athena rubbed her forehead and groaned. "Not since yesterday. Percy took it, I think."

Frank blinked. "He told me that it wasn't working."

"Only the A button actually does anything." Annabeth explained without missing a beat, "That way no one would get it confused with the real controllers... oh my gods, Frank, do you know what he did with it?"

"Put it down?"

"Telling me where is what I meant."

"Oh! Yeah, I knew that. He dropped it somewhere on the floor in his room."

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "I'll be back in a few minutes."

Once she was gone, Frank must have gotten the impression that he was the next in line to leave and quickly excused himself.

Jason turned to Piper and looked at her carefully in the eyes. "Are you okay?" He asked. When she didn't answer, Jason put a hand on her shoulder.

"Seriously Piper, are you alright?"

"_I'm _fine..."

"...But...?"

"I'm just worried about Leo." Piper admitted. "He didn't want to talk to me when I went to his room, Jason. He basically just shooed me out."

Jason furrowed his eyebrows. "He's been kind of like that since we found him again-"

"It wasn't as bad as that, though! If you had been with me and Hazel earlier... oh gods, Jason you should have seen it." Piper groaned, rubbing her forehead with her hand.

"What do you mean?"

"He set part of his room on fire, that's the best I can explain it." Piper said, reaching for the single braid in her hair. "Then, he told me he didn't know how it happened, like he just woke up I guess and suddenly nearly everything was burnt! He lied straight to my face."

Jason's blue eyes were suddenly filled with thought. "How do you know he lied?"

"You're defending him?"

"I'm just asking. What if he-"

"Had some sort of nightmare and lost control during the night?" Piper huffed, folding her arms over chest. "He wasn't telling me everything, I could tell."

Jason frowned. "Maybe it's best not to pry, Piper."

Piper gaped at him. Was she hearing him correctly?

She couldn't be.

"Jason, what if-"

"I understand that you're worried, but if anything was wrong or bothering Leo, don't you think he'd tell us about it?" Jason pointed out. His voice sounded confident, like he was entirely sure of himself and had no doubts, but there was a lingering bit on uncertainty in his eyes.

Piper didn't see it.

She thought about what the son of Jupiter said. He was right... wasn't he?

Leo was a chatterbox, that was for sure. He could drone on about the same subject for hours if his short attention span didn't jump over to a new topic.

He talked with everyone, was friends with everyone, but he wasn't... open.

Piper didn't recall Leo every talking about his own troubles. He complained, he nagged, he would go out of his way to make a point of how stupid something was, but anything to do with _him_ and _his_ feelings... Leo tended to block them out.

Piper didn't think Jason was so right anymore, but she gave a nod in agreement anyway and didn't push the subject.

She trusted that Leo would tell them if there was more going on than what he was currently letting her see.


	5. Leo: V

The Problem With Leo Valdez  
Disclaimer: _All characters[aside from a few OC's] belong to RR._  
_Leo Valdez is-unfortunetly- not my creation as with the other demigod characters._  
_They're pretty cool, though._  
_Good job, Rick._

A/N: Haha, I probably should have credited the cover, eh?  
The face is a picture of Leo that was done by Viria(who you can easily find on Tumblr if you'd like, her art is really amazing) and his eye is actually from a picture of Hazel that Viria also drew. I thought that since Leo goes all 'Eidolon-y' in this fic, and Hazel's eyes are a golden colour, I could just edit it in and _bam_! Eidolon-Possessed-Leo.  
But yeah, the cover is a cropped/edited picture by Viria.

* * *

**Chapter: V**  
**LEO**

**Discoveries**

Leo felt like he was slowly losing his mind. For real this time, not just because of the funky Mist stuff Hazel was able to do.

He could barely talk to anyone without feeling like he was going to... fry them? Leo wasn't sure if that was the right term to use. When Piper had tried to talk to him, he felt like...

Man, this was so unlike him.

Really, Leo had wanted to... perminately get rid of her, so to say.

He was freaking himself out.

And his lovely little fire powers? It was suddenly as if Leo had become some sort of pyromaniac now for whatever reason. He'd pull out graphing paper from his toolbelt just so he could watch in burn in his hands. Then, because it was fun, he'd go and do it again and again.  
He was out of control.

Thankfully he hadn't installed any fire alarms.

All that aside, though, what was he going to do? He couldn't keep away from the others forever, but he couldn't exactly _confide_ in them, either.

...Could he?

No, no he couldn't. Leo didn't trust himself enough to do that.

He was out of his mind, how did he know that he wouldn't accidently perminately get rid of anyone? What if he...

Leo didn't even want to think about it. He couldn't do that. Not to his friends, not to... not to anyone. But something, a _feeling_, made him think that he wanted to.

He had managed to get Piper away, thank Hephaestus for that, but how long could he keep it up? Leo glanced down at his hands and saw the flickering of flames dancing on them. He knew that he wasn't purposefully doing that. It was as if his brain suddenly decided that it'd work completely on it's own, doing and thinking of things without Leo's consent.

He dropped down to the floor and tucked his hands tightly against his chest, hoping to smother the fire sprouting from them.  
It didn't work, and all Leo managed to accomplish was burning a hole in his pajama shirt.

Despite the heat, the boy felt a cold shiver run down his spine.

_Hazel is the easiest to get rid of first._ A voice in his head thought. He had been hearing it for hours now, but still Leo was confused whether it was actually him thinking or someone speaking to him.

At first he had thought that it was Gaea, he had heard _her_ plenty of times, but this voice was no sleepy evil woman speaking. As far as Leo could tell, it didn't even have a recognizable gender to it. The voice hissed and sneered, but never did it give away who it belonged to.

Yet... it sounded creepily familiar.

_Throw her overboard and let her fall to her death, that would be fun._ The voice snickered. _Or, kill everyone all at once by causing an explosion in the engine room! No one would survive except the one immune to the flames. _

"Stop it." Leo said aloud, narrowing his eyes in frustration.

_Oh, but little hero! I'm only getting started._

He was the one who fixed things. He solved problems. He made sense of things that sounded completely insane to anyone else.  
Leo didn't want to admit that he couldn't find a solution to his own problem.

_Don't get angry, little hero. Not everything needs to be fixed. We can work together properly if you would just stop resisti-_

"I said stop!" Leo snarled, squeezing his eyes shut. "I don't want to listen to you."

Now in the darkness, the son of Hephaestus saw a golden pair of eyes gleaming back at him.

_What made you think that you had a choice?_

Leo's eyes snapped open immediately and he scrambled backwards. Although the door was closed as with the windows, he felt a cold rush of air brush by him.

"You." He said.

_Me?_

"You're not supposed to be back."

_You have me mistaken for a sibling of mine. Though I must admit that it's flattering of you to think I'm worthy of being called the best! I certainly do try._

Leo was speechless. What was he supposed to say? They were back.

Of course they would be back.

What if-

_Earth Mother didn't want the son of Poseidon and the son of Jupiter. _The Eidolon said, giving an answer to Leo's question before he could even speak it. _But why waste time explaining? You are needed for much more important things._

"I'll get Piper to send you away, just like she did for the other three!" Leo snapped, regaining his courage.

It all made sense now.

He wasn't slowly losing his mind, after all.

It was just... an Eidolon.

The relief that Leo had felt for a few short seconds was quickly washed away and replaced with a knot of fear.

_I control you now, Leo Valdez._ The Eidolon hissed. _Make one move against me and your friends will have more painful deaths than I already have planned._

"You can't do a thing." Leo spat, though even he could hear the doubt in his words. The Eidolon had managed to do so much already...

_Let's test if that's true._

Without his will, Leo got up from the floor and walked over to the shattered mirror by his dresser. His head turned so he could see his relfection, and the face staring back at him made him gasp.

It was his. _Completely _his.

From his experiance, when Eidolon's took control the eye color of the person changed to gold. Leo's eyes, however, remained the dark brown that they always were.

_See? It took me many days of practicing on mortals to figure this trick out. You were a bit of a challenge, being a demigod, but look. No one will know I'm here. I made you walk to this very spot, but there's no proof to other's that it was me._

Leo clenched his fists.

He was a puppet.

"They'll figure it out." Leo said, finding a small bit of confidence again. "The others will know."

_Oh?_

"You don't act like me. Didn't you notice that Piper's suspicious enough already? I wouldn't have treated her like that!" Yeah... that was true.

He felt a little better knowing that his friends were already seeing straight through the Eidolon's act.

_That's just a mood-swing. _

Leo's reflection grinned at him, once again without his actual approval, and within seconds he heard himself speak.

"_I'm the Super-sized McShizzle, man_!" He laughed, placing his hands on his hips. His voice sounded just like his own. "_Leo Valdez, bad boy supreme_."

His arms fell and his grin dropped, but Leo didn't move away from the mirror. He stared at in shock.

"You just..."

_You may think you can fight me, but you can't, little hero. I want to make it clear that if you even try, your friends last thoughts will be wondering why it was _you_ who betrayed them, without my influence at all. Why would you ever join Gaea? Why would you hurt them like that? What would cause you to-_

"Stop it!"

_Are you going to try and stop me?_

Leo clenched his jaw and nodded. "I'd rather die than let myself be controlled by you."

His reflection shrugged and the Eidolon began walking towards the door.

"_This is not a game, Leo Valdez._" He growled, reaching for the doorknob. "_Will the death of a friend be what it takes for you to understand that_?"

Leo's heart lurched. He couldn't let the Eidolon make the room.

He wouldn't.

His hand shook as he and the Eidolon fought for control over it, but in only a matter of seconds it moved forward smoothly and turned the knob.

With a click, the door opened.

"_How about... oh! Annabeth sounds like a good first kill_." The Eidolon decided, grinning again as it moved Leo's body through the hall.

His movements were slighty rigid as Leo tried to stop walking, but the Eidolon pushed through and forced him to take another step forward.

"Leo!" Jason's voice sounded behind him, making both the Eidolon and Leo stop.

"Hey, I need to talk to you."

Leo turned around and saw the son of Jupiter coming down the stairs. His expression was cold, almost angry, and for a second Leo wondered if the guy was going to punch him in the face.

"_Can it wait? I need to talk to Annabeth for a second_." The Eidolon spoke for him, but there was no trace of this in his voice.

Jason's brow furrowed. "No, actually. It can't."

See, he found out! Leo wanted to scream.

"_If you insist, Superman._" He said, holding out his hands infront of him. "_What's up_?"

"Piper thinks you need help."

Leo lowered an eyebrow. "_Well I guess it's fair to say that I'm a bit out there, but can't seeing a psychologist wait until the war's over_?"

Jason sighed. "That's not what I meant. She thinks..." He said, taking a moment to find the right words. "Just, are you okay or not?"

"_Do I look okay_?"

"Well yeah I guess you look-"

"_Then I'm fine_!" He cheered, patting Jason on the shoulder. "_Anything else_?"

Leo wanted to scream.

_Don't you dare._

What if I did? He thought, pondering on the idea.

_What if I killed Jason?_ The Eidolon shot back.

Jason, oblivious of what was going on, folded his arms over his chest and glared. "Are you sure?"

"_Dude, I'm pretty positive_."

Can you stop talking for me? Leo silently muttered. He was cold. Freezing, actually.

Being under the control of the Eidolon was like being stuck outside during Autumn. He wanted a jacket or a hat or something, but most of all he also wanted to be let back inside.

_Not a chance, little hero._

Jason eyed Leo closely. After a few quiet seconds he gave up looking for the sign that would tell him the boy infront of him was lying.

"Alright then."

"_Okay_."

"I'll tell Piper."

"_Gotcha_."

Jason disappeared up the stairs.

As soon as he was gone, the Eidolon directed Leo in the direction of Annabeth's room once more.

"Wait, you're really doing this?" Leo blurted out, finding that he could once again speak.

_Perhaps._

"You can't!"

_Oh, I'm not going to kill her, Leo Valdez. This isn't a random murder spree. Earth Mother wouldn't be pleased to hear that I eliminated everyone before the fun could begin._

Leo managed to get his legs to stop moving.

"You said you were planning to kill everyone. You said you were going to kill Annabeth!"

_And what would that do for me at this point in time? People lie, little hero. _

"But you're not a person."

_That is true. You, however, are one who is seemingly talking to himself in the middle of a hallway._

"There's no one here but you and me."

_No one here but yourself and another._

* * *

A/N: _I've strayed from my posting plan lately, which is usually updates on Tuesdays, so from now on that's the day I'll be posting.  
__Just thought I would let you guys know, so you don't think I've disappeared. _

_Also! Please feel free to leave questions in your review! If you don't understand something then just add it in and I'll answer in the next chapter._


	6. Leo: VI

The Problem With Leo Valdez  
Disclaimer: _All characters[aside from a few OC's] belong to RR._  
_Leo Valdez is-unfortunetly- not my creation as with the other demigod characters._  
_They're pretty cool, though._  
_Good job, Rick._

A/N: Whoops, sorry for missing an update.  
To make up for it, I think I made this chapter fairly interesting. I mean, who doesn't  
want to see one of the demigods get beat up and nearly killed, am I right?  
Ha... I lied.  
Three of them get beat up, one is nearly killed.  
Yay Leo, good going man.

Being able to get wifi has been a big problem for me lately (since it switches on and off and I only have a certain amount of time available to use it) but udating this fanfic doesn't take a whole lot of time so hopefully it should all be good!  
If I miss a Tuesday, though, please don't get mad because it's most likely that I wasn't able to get Internet.

* * *

**Chapter: VI**  
**LEO**

**Eidolon 1, Leo 0**

"Am I interrupting something?" Jason's voice sounded from behind Leo, making the boy wince. If he had been there the whole time... Leo probably looked like he was officially nuts.

A light went off in his head.

Maybe Jason would clue in and realize that his friend was acting as a costume for the Eidolon. Maybe he'd kept Piper and she could do the whole 'Imma charmspeak you outta here!' thing like she did last time.

At that moment, Leo felt a little bit of hope.

"_Just talking to myself_." He found himself saying, his hands waving the words away. "_What's up... again_?"

Jason's shoulders drooped a bit. "I think you need help, too." He admitted, taking a few steps toward his friend. "Piper and Hazel explained what you did and I'm just curious on wheth-"

"_I'm fine._" The Eidolon insisted, cutting Jason's sentence short. He sounded so confident as the words were said for him, but Leo could sense a slight feeling of worry beginning to boil.

With a burst of excitment, Leo realized that the thing was beginning to feel nervous.

Keep questioning it, the boy wanted to say to Jason. If he could just get the Eidolon to-

_Do not bother yourself with such plans, demigod._ The thing growled inside his head. _I cannot be beaten simply by being asked a few questions._

Whatever, freak. Leo thought back, willing his right arm to move so he could slap himself across the face. His hand twitched slightly, but that was all.

"You don't look like yourself." Jason noticed, narrowing his eyes in suspicion.

See! Leo inwardly shouted. If he could, he knew that he'd have the biggest grin on his face at the moment. Jason wasn't as stupid as Leo gave him credit for.

"_I might be coming down with a cold or something but I-_" The Eidolon began, but stopped when it recognized the expression on Jason's face.

Leo felt his stomach twist, but it wasn't his own fear that he was feeling.

The son of Jupiter's eyes widened. "Your eyes."

Leo's hands clenched into fists and then suddenly it was like he was out of his body, looking down on what was going on but not really being where he was supposed to.

He glanced over to look at his face. With a wave of unease he saw that his eyes were burning a bright golden colour.

Panic began to rise in his chest. The Eidolon wasn't even _trying_ to remain unseen anymore.

It was going to do something.

"How did you get back on the ship?" Jason demanded, using his authoritative praetor voice that he probably used to talk in back at Camp Jupiter.

The Eidolon gave a sick chuckle. "_Demigods are so stupid_." It snickered, showing Jason a grin. "_I'd love to explain just how idiotic your kind really is, but unfortunately there's not enough time to waste._"

At that moment, Leo knew what the Eidolon was going to do.

He tried to shout a warning to Jason, to tell him to get the heck out of there, but of course he couldn't say anything. The thing controlling him didn't even budge.

He watched helplessly as his hands caught fire and felt his heart sink and its colour shifted from orange to red, and then to a horrifying blue-ish white.

The Eidolon wasn't planning on just _hurting_ Jason, it was going to full on burn the poor guy to ashes.

The flames relfected in Jason's eyes as he watched them grow.

Leo hoped that the guy would get running soon. He didn't have his weapon with him, none of the other demigods were below deck, and Leo highly doubted that he would summon lightning while on the ship.

Not to credit the Eidolon or anything, but Jason was doomed.

"Leo," Jason said cautiously, holding his hands out in front of him. "You wouldn't do this."

"_That's true, I don't think he would_." The Eidolon said, giving a simple shrug. He took a few steps forward as he cast another wicked grin at the son of Jupiter. "_However, I am more than willing to do it for him_."

Jason's face was fixed with consentration. "He wouldn't let you hurt a friend."

Leo felt sick to his stomach when he witnessed his face gleaming with anticipation. The golden coloured eyes seemed to glow just a tad bit brighter, as if the Eidolon's excitement fueled them like coals.

"_I believe you give the fool too much credit_." He hissed, and right as the words were escaping his mouth, a blast of fire was shot at Jason.

Leo figured that Jason was used to having things thrown at him, but that didn't stop the sickness that was washing over him. His friend dived out of the way, not even seeminly fazed by nearly being burnt to a crisp. He was fine, unharmed, but Leo hated watching himself do something like that.

"_Gaea will not be pleased that I killed you so early, son of Jupiter_!" The Eidolon said, the shrill sound of excitment clearly audible in his voice. Slowly, as the thing went on, Leo noticed a change in the sound that was coming out from his lips.

"_But the job will be done much quicker! You are lucky I spare you the painful, agonizing death that the Earth Mother has planned_!" It shrieked, shifting to one note to another.

The voice was no longer his.

Although it made Leo feel slightly better; the noticeable differences between himself and the Eidolon now freaked him out more than comforted.

It was like... it was like Leo Valdez wasn't even there anymore, and he was beginning to feel it.

The next things that the Eidolon shouted at Jason became a blur to Leo. The words were muffled, tuning in and out like it somehow he was listening to a radio that had a bad connection.

"They'll here you!" Jason snarled at him. He didn't look the least bit worried when Leo's hands slammed down against his throat in their attempts to choke him. "What will you do when the others come down here and see you?"

"_Oh, they wont be able to_." The Eidolon spat back, clutching Leo's hands around the boys neck. "_You're as good as dead, Jason Grace_."

Jason's face began to turn slightly purple, but his eyes remained locked on to the golden ones of the Eidolon. "Just wait." He choked out.

Leo was amazed and horrified at his friends courage. If their places were swapped, the boy was sure he'd be thrashing and kicking and freaking the heck out.

Calm? Jason was the master of calm. But what in the name of Hephaestus was the guy waiting for? Leo didn't care if he roughed up his body a little bit if he managed to stop him from killing him, he'd take a broken jaw and a black eye if needed.

Five seconds later, thanks to the sound of a sword unsheathing, Leo understood what Jason had been expecting.

He turned his head the same moment the Eidolon turned his actual, real life body's head, and their expressions read the same thing.

Confusion.

Standing behind them, looking very much welcomed but incredibly deadly, were Percy and Annabeth. The son of Poseidon held Riptide in his hands, a weapon Leo never thought he'd be so glad to see, and Annabeth had her drakon bone sword up and ready to fight.

Leo wondered if they had been below deck the whole time. If so, they sure took their sweet time to get their butts in gear.

"_How did you_-" The Eidolon asked, momentarily taking his attention away from Jason. His hands loosened and immediately the son of Jupiter took that short second to push him off and pin him to the ground.

"Get over here!" He snapped at Percy and Annabeth. "Help me hold him down."

The pair rushed over, Annabeth taking his wrists and Percy taking his feet while Jason literally sat on him.

"What's going on?" Annabeth demanded, glaring at Leo. The boy wished that she could see where he _really_ was, out of his own body like a snail out of its shell, but the whole concept was like a huge brain-jumble. The jist was that she couldn't see him.

"Eidolon." Jason gasped, still winded from his lack of oxygen.

Percy scowled. "We _know_ that, look at his eyes! She means _how_?"

"_You cannot defeat me, children of-_"

"Shut up." Annabeth hushed, then gave a nod to Jason.

"You're guess is as good as mine." Jason shrugged. "There was only three of them, wasn't there? Piper didn't miss any?"

"The last ones said Gaea only sent three." Percy muttered, eying Leo suspiciously.

Over here, Leo thought helplessly.

Annabeth let out a sigh. "There could always been more, but what we have to focus on is getting _this_ one out." She said, jabbing a finger towards Leo's face.

Something flickered in the golden eyes of the Eidolon, and Leo felt his conscoisness shift again. This time his eyesight blurred a bit, hiding the fact that there was a smile sneaking it's way onto the boys face.

Annabeth noticed the problem before he did.

"His hands." She gasped, whipping backwards. "Percy, Jason, get-"

The two boys barely had time to scramble out of the way as Leo's body erupted into flames.

Jason yelled out a few latin curse words and Percy began spitting out Greek insults like he had grown up with the famous Party Ponies Leo kept hearing about.

"_For that, all of you will burn_!" The Eidolon's hissy voice screeched out, diving towards Annabeth first.

Percy's eyes widened and he tried to reach out to grab one of Leo's arms. "Stop!" He shouted, then added another couple of choice words as his hands made contact with the flames.  
"Mother of f-"

"Use the plumbing!" Jason barked at him, gesturing a hand towards the walls.

Percy shot him a look. "Do you mind? We have a bigger problem than a bathroom break, Jason!"

"The water in them, Jackson!" Jason snapped, "Use the water!"

Percy's mind registered and he gave a nod.

As the son of the sea god tried to concentrate, the Eidolon wasn't giving in to any mercy.

The flames around him had died down a fair bit now, but the thing had made a wall of them around him and Annabeth, blocking Percy and Jason from helping her.

It seemed that blocking the airway was the Eidolon's favourite method of killing, because his hands were firmly clamped around Annabeth's neck, just as he had done to Jason.

Burns stretched well aways down her arms and continued with a few ugly blotches on her face. Looking at her made Leo wince. He turned his attention back to Percy, desperately hoping that he was getting somewhere with the pipes.

Sure, the ship wouldn't take kindly to a flood, but... oh holy Hephaestus.

The engine room.

The big one was way below deck, yeah, but Leo couldn't risk ruining it. It hooked up to pipes, explosives, the whole new computer system he had _just_ installed a few days ago! He had tied that baby in with Festus' _brain_, and the gods know how often the dragon got hit with crummy luck. He was only a head now, if that proved any points.

It was either the ship or-

'But I guess you care more about your ship than your friends.' Frank had accused him of once. Maybe it was true, since Leo had seriously just considered saving his ship over his friend, but he was going to make it false... and still kind of true.

He just had to push the Eidolon to back off, right? The idea didn't sound too hard. All he had to do was come back enough to stop what was going on.

Piece of cake.

Leo began to focus, which was somewhat of an impossible task for him to do. He knew his brain was nuts, it was true he had a comically short attention span.  
This, however, this was serious. Lives were at stake, Festus was at stake, lots and lots of drachmas to pay off the Stolls for their shipping services were on the verge of going to complete waste.

He tried to find an anchor. That was what people did in this situations, right? They needed something to pull them back.

Unfortunetely, the only person Leo immediatly thought of was the one who was dead. Not exactly much of a comforting thought.

He thought deeper. Who else did he really care about? Obviously there were his friends, one of which was in the danger of ceasing to exist, but he didn't really need them _all_, did he?  
He'd miss them if they disappeared one day, but Leo was sure that he'd be able to move on.

Then, Leo realized, that was wrong.

If he let something, some _monster_, use his body to kill his friends off, he knew that there was no way he'd be able to move on. He'd carry the weight of knowing he allowed himself, even if being controlled, to commit such a foul act.

Annabeth. What would happen if she ended up dying because of him? Leo would be furious with himself. He'd spend every minute thinking of all the ways he could have prevented it.  
He'd already let her fall into Tartarus because he'd been too preoccupied with something else, he couldn't let that happen again.

Percy. Leo knew that he'd be devastated. He refused let something like that happen. Percy was his friend, more than that, a _hero_. Honestly Leo couldn't count how many times the guy had saved everyone's asses. How much of a failure would he be as a friend if he let the guy go?

Jason. Jason was a lot of things; like too strict sometimes or too serious when Leo tried to lighten the mood. He might think of himself as some almighty Roman who didn't need anyone, but he allowed himself to make friends, and Leo didn't plan on misusing that type of trust.

Hazel. It wasn't just because Leo's great-grandfather and her had flirted it up, heck, that wasn't even part of the reason at all. Leo already felt like he messed up whatever bond they had, but he was determined to save whatever was left of it. She had been there for him, after all, not letting her die for a second time was the least Leo could do.

Frank. Leo wasn't even sure if he liked Frank, but the big guy didn't deserve even the tiniest amount of what the Eidolon had planning. He was a good guy who put up with Leo constantly stepping all over him, who found the courage to lead his friends to victory in battle, and who didn't think twice about putting his life on the line even though it literally depended on a stick. If Frank was going to die, it definitely couldn't be because of something so dishonoring as being murdered by a 5'6, lanky, pointy eared Latino freak.

Piper. There was a book full of things that Leo could list off on what she was, but choosing just one felt better. Piper was his friend even before either of them knew that they were part of a freaky-deaky prophecy. Piper had held out her hand to him on their first days of Wilderness School together and told him that it was either be friends with her, or be trambled by the more popular kids. Leo had refused that offer, and on the second day he had been trampled by exactly who Piper had predicted. On the third day, Leo and Piper had teamed up to get back at them and then laughed about it in detention.

Leo couldn't live without any of them. Not without Annabeth or Percy. Not without Jason, Hazel, or Frank. And he certainly couldn't live without Piper, his best friend long before they were dragged into a world of wars and monsters.

He couldn't let the Eidolon hurt Annabeth, not now or ever. He couldn't let it move on to one of the others. Leo wouldn't let that _thing_ win.

Suddenly, as if out of nowhere, Leo felt something tugging at him from the direction of where his body was. He saw himself freeze on the spot, watched as the flames dissolved into the air, and his hands let go of their grasp around Annabeth's neck.

Thankfully, _finally_, Leo realized that he was back in his own body. The Eidolon had been pushed aside.

His relief didn't last for too long, though, because the next second after that Leo felt someone slam into him, knocking him to the around.

"If you killed her, Valdez..." Percy's voice growled in his ear. "If you killed her, I swear I'll-"

"Percy." Jason snapped at him as he knelt down beside Annabeth. "You know he didn't mean to hurt her."

"Oh yeah? _Someone _had to let that thing back onto the ship! Who do you think gave it permission?" Percy hissed, shooting an icy glare at Leo. "What exactly do you think you're doing, Valdez? This isn't some stupid game you can play!"

Leo didn't try to tell him to shut up, but he did try to explain. "Percy, there was more than just three. The one that you saw was entirely-"

"You think you can lie your way out of this?!" Percy shouted, tears clearly visable in his eyes. "You almost _killed_ us, Leo!"

Jason shook his head. "We're fine and Annabeth is okay. Calm down."

Percy's head snapped towards his direction. "She's breathing?"

Jason gave a nod, and Annabeth uttered something that sounded like an ancient Greek curse word.

Leo could literally see the relief wash over Percy. He felt a bit of it himself, too. Knowing that he had come back in time gave him hope that he could do it again if it ever happened.

The son of Poseidon climbed off Leo and hurried over to where Annabeth lay.

To Leo, Annabeth's face stilled looked fairly purple, but every second it was beginning to go back to it's original colour.

Thank the gods, Leo thought as he pulled himself into a sitting position.

Jason stood up and looked over the scene around him. "Percy, you can take Annabeth to the sickbay and get her some ambrosia for her burns." He said, using his Roman-y voice again. "Leo, we're going to get Piper."

"McLean? For what?"

"To bake a cake." Jason replied, folding his arms over his chest. "What do you think? She's the only one who can get the Eidolon out of you."

Leo nodded quickly and shot to his feet. He was a bit embarrassed that he hadn't remembered that, since it was a pretty important thing to remember at the moment.  
"Right, right okay."

Percy scooped up Annabeth and headed down the hall. Jason and Leo were about halfway up the stairs when the son of Poseidon shouted back at them.

"The doors locked!"

"What?"

"The door won't open, Jason. What else would I mean?"

Jason narrowed his eyes and tried to open the door leading up to the main deck, but the doorknob didn't even turn.

Leo felt guilty when his friend immediatly gave him a suspicious glance, like _he_ was somehow the reason why the door was locked.

"Did you do anything?"

"No."

"Liar." Percy huffed, now walking towards them, Annabeth still in his arms. "How can we trust you?"

Leo wanted to think that it was just because the guy had been through Tartarus, but he seriously wasn't appriciating how he was acting like Leo had a monster hiding under his skin. It was true, but a little respect would be nice.

"Why would I lock myself down here with you three?" Leo snapped, rolling his eyes.

Percy scowled. "Well I don't know, maybe so no one could see you kill us?"

Leo clenched his jaw. "I wouldn't do that on my own, Jackson. Get that in your head."

Jason frowned at them. "Percy might be right, Leo."

"_What?_" Leo snarled, a look of disbelief on his face as he turned towards Jason. "Why am I suddenly the big bad wolf here?"

"You've got an Eidolon in you," Jason reminded him, as if he needed any reminders. "so why _shouldn't_ we be quick to judge? I mean, for all we know this couldn't even be you right now."

Percy glared at Leo as Jason continued.

"Eidolons can alter their hosts thoughts without even needing to fully possess them. You could have locked the doors from the outside thinking there was a logical reason behind it, but really it was just the Eidolon having you do it."

Leo furrowed his eyebrows. "I would have remembered that. And besides, everything in the ship relies on the main system. No keys, no flip locks, it's the computers that handle everything."

"Since when?" Percy demanded.

Leo shrugged. "Since I realized how much easier it would be if everything did it's job without me telling it what to do? It's a set up program, Percy, perfectly safe."

"You didn't give it some weird living ability that Buford has, right?" Jason asked, lowering an eyebrow.

Leo shook his head. "Nope."

Then, what Jason was getting to settled in to his brain. "Unless... aw man." He groaned, facepalming. "Like I was trying to say earlier, there's more than just the three Eidolons we met before. What if-"

"Another one is controlling the system." Percy finished, his voice so low it hardly sounded like him.

"It would explain why the computers weren't working right earlier. Piper had said there was something up with them." Leo muttered, feeling a knot form in his stomach.

Jason looked like he was deep in thought. Every second or two he'd mumble something, but neither Leo or Percy could catch what he was saying.

"...Call for Frank." Annabeth said, her eyes cracking open. "He can break the door down, can't he?"

"Well yeah if he were a bear-" Leo said, then let out a sigh when he registered his own words. "Oh."

Percy was just about to open his mouth when the lights flickered off, and the four of them were absorbed into the darkness.


	7. Piper: VII

The Problem With Leo Valdez  
Disclaimer: _All characters[aside from a few OC's] belong to RR._  
_Leo Valdez is-unfortunetly- not my creation as with the other demigod characters._  
_They're pretty cool, though._  
_Good job, Rick._

A/N: FIXED IT.  
Yay, me.

And, guys, I know that this chapter may seem disappointing right now, but I _promise_ that it will be kinda important later.  
I got this.  
Don't think I don't know what I'm doing.

* * *

**Chapter: VII**  
**PIPER**

**Gone**

Piper didn't know what to do when the entire ship shut down. One minute they were docked in the sky, watching as the clouds floated past them and waiting for Annabeth to get back, and the next they were falling.

Falling, falling... still falling.

Piper's immediate thought: _We're so going to die._ She was quite the daring hero, worrying about death like that.

"Grab onto something!" Hazel shouted, slipping on the floors and reaching for one of the railing shields. Frank wasn't too far behind her, but his feet couldn't seem to stay steady and soon enough he was slipping towards Festus' head.

"Where's everyone else?" Piper called to her friend, wrapping her arms around the base of one of the many ballistae's.

"Below." Frank replied as he whipped past her, desperately trying to grab onto something before he had the chance to be swooped up in the air.

Piper reached for his hand and managed to bring him up beside her.

"They'll be crushed when we land," She panicked, looking back towards the doorway. "do you think one of us should get them?"

From the corner of her eye, she saw Hazel shake her head. Piper waited for an answer, but the wind was pushing all of the other girls curly hair up into her face and she ended up coughing before she got one word out.

Piper frowned and turned back to Frank, who's eyes were wild with fear and face rapidly losing it's colour. "I think I'm gonna be sick..." He announced, using one hand to cover his mouth.

Piper didn't dare let go of her hold, but she imagined herself patting his back. "We'll be fine." She promised, mostly to herself. Was she right? How did she know that the three of them weren't going to meet their deaths in a few minutes?

She didn't.

Piper sucked in a deep breath, let go of the ballistae, and forced her way over to where Hazel was.

The wind roared around them, threatening to tilt the ship in a way that all three of the demigods would be lost to the sky, and suddenly Piper felt just as sick as Frank. Her stomach churned and bubbled, making the girl want to throw up.

"Hazel," She managed out, forcing whatever was climbing up her throat to retreat back down. "You can still control metal, right?"

Hazel nodded, but her faced displayed confusion. "Of course."

"Do you think you can lift the ship?"

The daughter of Pluto's eyes widened with horror, like the idea was suicide. "You honestly aren't thinking..." She trailed off when Piper gave a nod. "I can _move _metal, Piper, but a celestial bronze _ship_? I don't know."

Piper dared to look over the edge. She felt another bubble in her stomach when she saw nothing but woodland beneath them, growing closer with every second that they wasted. It would have been different if they had been sailing over water, but during the night it seemed that they had taken a detour.

Now, if they continued falling, they didn't have a chance at making it out alive.

"Hazel, please. You have to try." Piper pleaded.

"I can't! Use your charmspeak on Festus like you did before, to wake him up!"

Her charmspeak had brought Festus to life. Living things didn't 'shut down' like mechanical things did. Living things died.  
What was Festus doing now? Acting like a bobble head as they rocketed towards the ground. What did that mean?  
Festus was dead.

"Just _try_, Hazel."

Even to Piper, her idea was a longshot. No way could Hazel keep the entire ship in the air. No way could she set them down gently somewhere safe.

But that wasn't what they needed.

"Just enough to lessen the fall, okay? I know you can do it." Piper assured her.

Hazel took in a deep breath and closed her eyes, tying to concentrate. A few nerve-wrecking seconds past and tears began finding their way to her face.

"It's not working!" Hazel cried. "Nothing's happening!"

"It's okay!"

"No, it's not!"

It was the worst time for it to happen, but seeing the terrified look on Hazel's face reminder Piper that her friend was only a thirteen year old. She was just a kid.

Granted, Hazel had already gone through death once and was living way out of her time, but she was still only a kid nonetheless.

Demigod life is never fair, Piper chided herself. That was something she had learned awhile ago, when she had to save her father from _his_ death. She had gotten another lesson when Percy and Annabeth had falled into Tartarus. And now, life was giving her another one.

Nothing was ever fair when it came to demigods. They weren't supposed to get happy endings like in fairytales, they were supposed to die young. As children and teenagers, demigods had always been set up for death.

Not today though, Piper thought. She wouldn't have her last moments in a ship falling out of the sky. She wouldn't have Hazel's final thoughts be of how horrible the situation was. She wouldn't have Frank be clutching onto a ballistae when it ended.

No, definitely not today.

"Hazel," Piper said, trying to mask the desperation in her voice. "we don't have a lot of time. If there's anyone that can do it, it's you. What do you think?"

"I think you're crazy." Hazel uttered, though a slight smile was beginning to form. "But I'll try."

"Thank you."

"And... Piper?"

"Yeah?"

"If this doesn't work, I'm sorry."

She's just a kid, echoed in Piper's mind.

"It wouldn't be your fault." Piper said, forcing a grin. "Now come on Levesque. You can do it."

She didn't fully catch what the daughter of Pluto said after that, but two of the words were definitely "I hope"

And with that, Piper held her breath and waited for something to happen...

...

Nothing did.

Seconds passed, and still the _Argo II _was falling out of the sky at an alarming pace. Piper looked over to see her friend squeezing her eyes shut, her knuckles draining from their colour as she gripped the railing shield.

"Hazel," Piper started, but the girl cut her off.

"I know."

This was it. Nothing was happening. Hazel couldn't do it. Why had Piper even assumed that she could?

Piper felt the air escape from her lungs as the ship lurched to the side.

It had hit something.

This was how she would die.

Hazel casted a horrified glance at her and the beginnings of tears glistened near her eyes. "Piper, I don't want to die again!" She cried out, just as the _Argo II _hit something else and sent her flying back towards Frank.

Piper screamed for her friend the hang on, then shouted at Frank to turn into something and get him and the younger girl out of there.

Piper and the others below deck had the odds against them. It was better if two out of seven made it out, rather than none.

"Go!" The daughter of Aphrodite screeched, alarmed by the sound of one of the masts snapping. "Frank, _leave_!"

Another crack, then a snap, then the sounds of the metal folding and bending as the ship made contact with the rest of whatever was below it.

Frank didn't move.

With another sudden lurch, Piper was tossed over the side of the _Argo II_ and braced herself for impact.

* * *

Voices. She was sure that she was hearing voices.

They called her name as she walked through lush flower fields. No one was in sight, but Piper was too absorbed by the roses and daisy's to pay much attention anyway.

It was beautiful, why would she want to turn her attention away?

"Piper!" One of the voices sounded off in the distance. "Piper!"

She ignored them.

Happily breathing in the scents of the field, the girl felt oddly at peace.

"Please, you have to wake up!" The same voice pleaded. "Open your eyes!"

She felt as if someone was shaking her shoulders, but when she turned around, still no one was there.

She scowled, then turned her head back towards the the beautiful field.

When her eyes rested on the roses, what she saw wasn't what she had seen. They were wilted, covered in shadows and planted in oily dirt.

Frowning, Piper looked over at the daisies, then the tulips, then the marigold... all of them. All of them were dead.

Clouds drifted over the fields, bringing with them an icy breeze. Piper shivered, but the sound of the same familiar voice distracted her from the goosebumps.

"Piper!" It called once, then again and again and again.

Each time her name was repeated, the voice got a little bit clearer. She had no idea who was speaking, who was trying to reach out to her, but suddenly the girl had an understanding that they were trying to help her.

Once again, someone was shaking her shoulders.

"Wake up!"

She didn't try to brush them away this time. She felt a tugging feeling, right in her head and in her stomach, and then suddenly Piper felt dizzy.

The sky and the dead flower fields warped into one, but before everything went black, Piper saw what had really been around her the whole time.

Bodies. Hundreds upon hundreds of dead demigods, all being devoured by the earth they had fallen on.

* * *

Piper awoke to her own screaming. She hadn't been aware that she'd been doing it at first, but then her throat began to feel like sandpaper and then the next second she was coughing.

Once she regained her breath, Piper tried to get to her feet.

Her legs wobbled beneath her and she didn't think that her left knee was supposed to be able to bend like that, but she wasn't immediately crashing to the ground, so that was good.

Of course, _moving_ her left leg was the real challenge, but after three minutes of pain and cursing, Piper decided it would be best to hop.

Alright, number one thing on the list was completed. Number two, where did she land?

Piper squinted her eyes and tried to find a landmark of some sort. From what information she gathered, she was in a forest. Very helpful.

If only she could have substituted all the tree's for the Eiffel Tower, or a more familiar place like Camp Half-Blood... or Athens, which was where she really needed to be.

Next was the ship.

The girl looked upwards to the sky, and just as expected she saw the damaged tree-top trail that the _Argo II_ had left during it's crash landing. She knew that she should have been devastated, but at that moment Piper laughed.

She was alive.

_Alive._

She had thought for sure that she was dead. She had heard the _Argo II _crumple apart, she had heard the metal twisting and screeching, she had felt the impact as she hit the ground. But despite all that, she was okay.

And then, at that moment, Piper realized that maybe she wasn't okay after all.

Where were the others?

With a sickening jolt, Piper's brain was shoved back into reality. Pain stabbed at her leg, she felt a trickle of blood running down her forehead, but most of all, no one else was in sight.

She was alive, but Piper was completely alone.

The others were alive too, weren't they? There was no way they couldn't be. _She_ had been thrown off the ship from the air and managed to make it, the others...

Four of them had been below deck when the _Argo II _crashed, Hazel and Frank had been out of Piper's sight. What was she thinking? She had no idea what had happened to them.

"Jason!" Piper screamed, scanning the area around her in case anyone else was there. All she saw was undergrowth and pine tree's in every direction.

"Hazel, Frank!" The girl cried, stumbling forward to where the destruction of the treetops led. "Percy! Annabeth!" Piper shouted, desperate for someone to answer her. "Leo!"

No one. _No one_ answered her.

The fear in the bit of her stomach grew, and soon enough Piper found herself running. Her leg throbbed and something raked across her arms, causing bright red lines to show, but she forced herself to keep going.

She had to find them.

Piper stumbled on a broken off piece of celestial bronze, then ran passed littered bits of wood and metal, and then suddenly the girl was standing right before the ship. What was left of it, anyway.

Half of it was still in tact, the front half was torn apart. Wires and pipes sprung out where the inside walls had been, smoke from the engine room was lifting towards the sky, and a steady sound of buzzing filed through the air.

The _Argo II _was in ruins.

To make it worse, Piper saw five bodies scattering the ground. She should have felt a sense of relief, but the fact that none of them were moving made her feel sick. Also, someone was missing.

First she recognized the face of Frank, who had landed not far off from Hazel. Their chests moved up and down in a steady rhythm, so Piper moved on to where Percy was.

The son of Poseidon was literally right beside Annabeth and Jason, as if they had all been together right as the ship crashed. The three of them looked fine, only slightly hurt, but to Piper it didn't look as if all their wounds had come from hitting the ground.

Percy's and Annabeth's weapons were both clutched in their hands, burns marking their skin, and Jason's neck showed bright red hand prints.

They had been fighting, Piper realized. They had been below deck with Leo, who was the one who had been acting oddly. Two of them had burns. Their weapons were drawn. Leo was now missing.

He had attacked them, what other explanation was there?

At her feet, Percy began to stir.

"Kill," The son of Poseidon uttered, squinting his eyes, "twice."

Piper knelt down and stared at him, completely centered on everything that he said. "What? Percy, what are you talking about?"

The boy's eyes didn't focus on anything as they looked around. "He came back, to stop. Then it started again when the lights went out. He went for Riptide, to kill."

"Leo? Are you talking about Leo?"

"His eyes."

Piper wanted him to tell her more, but she noticed a matted spot in his hair and realized that he had a head wound. She didn't know if anything in the sick-bay was still in tact, hopefully the ambrosia had made it through.

"She's... she's using him to get us, I think." Percy said, finally looking at her. "He wasn't himself, said he'd kill us all."

Piper nodded and got to her feet. Annabeth hands were lifted across her face, flexing in and out as if she was studying how to work them again, and across from them Frank was beginning wake up as well.

Piper would get everyone bandages and ambrosia, they'd all heal up, and then they would figure out what to do.

As she limped towards the broken ship, the familiar thought played across in her mind once more.

They were wounded, half of them unconscious, one of them missing and apparently attempting to kill the rest. They had the weight of the world resting on their shoulders, a deadline that they couldn't miss, and a camp they considered home about to be attacked by the Romans.

All of them were just children.


	8. Piper: VIII

The Problem With Leo Valdez  
Disclaimer: _All characters[aside from a few OC's] belong to RR._  
_Leo Valdez is-unfortunately- not my creation as with the other demigod characters._  
_They're pretty cool, though._  
_Good job, Rick._

A/N: Ohmygod you guys I feel like this chapter has taken too long to write.  
I promise, they'll be an update next Saturday as well (maybe).

* * *

**Chapter: VIII**  
**PIPER**

**Trapped**

Piper didn't think things could get any worse. The ship was blowing out smoke, Festus was making clicking sounds which were probably due to his brain being hit by a tree branch, and the other demigods were still groggy from the fall.

To make matters worse, Leo, the one who had apparently caused the whole mess, still hadn't shown up yet.

As Piper bandaged up her injure friends and fed them some ambrosia (also taking some for herself, as her leg felt like it had been snapped in half then had a thousand needles shoved into it), she began to brainstorm ways how to get the heck out of wherever they had landed.

Obviously getting the _Argo II_ back in the sky was a no-go. The thing, while repairable if they had the right resources and time, wouldn't get them ten feet off the ground, much less be able to function as an actual ship.

She could find some drachmas and call for help from Camp Half-Blood, ask for a couple chariots from the Apollo kids and borrow some pegasi, but what could would those do in Athens?

Piper furrowed her eyebrows as she cut off another piece of gauze. They were going into war. They needed a battleship.

"Piper?" Percy said, lifting his head and frowning at her. "Woah... there's two of you."

"I see three." Jason grumbled, rubbing his hands over his eyes. "Oh my gods. Guys, does anyone else feel the ground shaking?"

A few feet away, Hazel pulled herself up into a sitting position. "Well that certainly wasn't fun." She said, pulling her curly hair away from her face and wiping the blood away from her cheek. "Let's not do that again anytime soon."

"Aye aye, matey." Percy mumbled in a bad attempt at a pirate accent. He gave a tired smile, then managed a sloppy salute before dropping his hands back onto the grass.

Beside him, Annabeth punched him in the arm. "Shut up, seaweed brain."

Piper stared at the three of them in dismay. The boys were completely out of it, and Frank was barely even awake yet. At least Annabeth, Hazel, and Piper seemed to be doing okay.

"When... before I woke up," Piper recalled, trying to remember. "I heard someone calling my name. Did any of you hear something similar?"

Percy's eyes shot open wide. "I did." He said, forcing himself to sit up. "I heard something too."

Piper nodded for him to go on.

"It was a pool." Percy whispered, sounding amazed at his own words. The second he stopped talking, Piper felt her shoulders sag. The guy still didn't know what the heck he was talking about.

"Don't look at me like that." The son of Poseidon snapped, his words directed at Piper. "It was there! And it told me something. It was... uh... it was telling me I needed to go back."

Annabeth sat up as well. "I didn't hear anything, but I was reading something." She remembered, narrowing her eyes. "All of the pages had the same things written on them. It was..." She scowled and shook her head. "I can't remember."

To Piper, this was insanely weird.

In their dreams, the daughter of Aphrodite had been hearing voices in a flower field, the son of Poseidon had been listening to a pool, and the daughter of Athena had been reading.

Piper looked over at Hazel, who now seemed to be in somewhat of a trance.

"Hazel-" She began to say, but Jason's voice cut her off.

"The ground." Jason muttered, swatting at a blade of grass. "The ground!"

Great, Piper thought. My boyfriend has gone crazy.

Piper was going to tell him everything was fine, but then Annabeth and Percy began to act up as well.

"I think it's trying to eat me." Percy said blunty, pulling his hand away from the dirt. Clumps of mud stuck to his fingers and bits of grass wrapped themselves around his arm.

Annabeth tried to do the same, but her hand wouldn't budge. "It's stuck!"

Confused, Piper looked down to see that the earth below her seemed to be dragging her down as well. She tried to move her legs, but the mud hardene around them, acting like a glue.

"I don't understand." She hissed, tugging harder.

Annabeth shot her a worried glance. "Gaea." She said. It was the only thing she needed to say.

Jason, still a little bit dazed, began muttering Latin curses as he tumbled back to the dirt floor after his attempt to stand up.

Piper's heart fell. "Oh gods no." She growled, trying to kick her feet. "Not now. _Not now_!"

Hazel jerked out of her trance as the grass around her hands began finding its way up her arm. She let out a scream, but her attention didn't seem to be focused on her own problems.

"Frank!" The daughter of Pluto cried. Piper looked just in time to see the Roman demigod nearly disappear in the dirt. The only part of his body left showing was a small bit of his head.

Immediately, Piper understood the other girls panic.

"Can anyone move?" The daughter of Aphrodite asked, unable to hide the worry in her voice. She didn't want to be swallowed up by the earth goddess. That would just be plain weird.

Annabeth let out a groan of frustration. "No, McLean, we can't."

"I can!" Percy perked up, a wide grin plastered on his face. "This is mud, right? Mud, water, this'll be no biggie." He said, sounding overly proud of his idea. To Piper, it seemed like nothing more than wishful thinking and desperation.

The others watched as the boy squeezed his eyes shut, but after a few seconds of silence passed it was clear that Percy's plan wasn't working.

"Gaea's controlling this, Percy." Piper said, not only trying to reassure him but herself as well. "We'll find another way out."

Suffocation didn't seem like the best way to die, but as the five of them tried to come up with idea's and Frank disappearing in the mud, Piper felt like it was the way she would go.

She looked to her side to ask Jason what they should do, but the blond had his eyes focused on the sky and was uttering something under his breath. As Piper watched him, she felt the frown already on her face deepen. What was he doing? She strained her ears to listen, but Hazel's sudden outburst strayed her concentration.

"He's gone!" Hazel exclaimed, tears forming around her eyes. "Frank. He just went under."

Piper wanted to say something that would make the girl feel better, but she didn't think that even charmspeak would be able to hold back Hazel's sobs. Besides, just looking at the sight of where Frank used to be caused a hollow pit in Piper's stomach. She doubted whatever power she had would work against her own grief.

Beside her Piper heard the sound of someone else being sucked further into the mud, but the grass and tangled itself around her so much that she could barely turn her head.

"Annabeth-" Percy began to say.

"I'm fine." Annabeth replied, seemingly through gritted teeth. "Hazel, I really need you to do one thing for all of us, is that okay?" Although the girl sounded calm and under control, Piper sensed the inner alarm that she was feeling.  
Piper felt it too.

Hazel gave a shaky nod. "Okay."

"Try to find out whats underground." Annabeth said. "There has to be a room or, or a bunker or _something_. Is there anything?"

"I don't know." Hazel admitted, her voice quiet. "I can't tell."

Annabeth hardly got a word out before Jason let out an air snatching scream. Frightened, but more so concerned, Piper forced herself to turn so she could face him.

He wasn't there.

"Jason." Piper whispered, her eyes wide with alarm. "Gods, this can't be happening." Frank had already went under, now Jason was down there with him. If Leo still counted, that meant three of the seven demigods were gone. Four were left. What chances did they have?

No. Piper thought, forcing back the tears in her eyes. Jason and Frank are still alive.  
She wanted to believe it, she really did, but what if there wasn't any air where they were? What if it was just earth, and Gaea was suffocating them?

"Oh jeez, my foot." Percy uttered, a panicked look spreading across his face. "No one freak out, but I think something just grabbed it."

"_Grabbed it_?" Annabeth repeated in disbelief. "Kick it away, then! Hazel, there has to be something under us."

The daughter of Pluto looked as if she was struggling against breaking down. "There's no metal and I can't sense any tunnels. I'm sorry... I can't help here."

"It's alright." Piper said reassuringly, managing a smile. "We'll-"

Annabeth cut her off.

"No, it's not, Piper!" The girl shouted, true panic sounding in her voice. "We can't get out of this and something is trying to get Percy! _How_ is that alright? We need to know whats down there!"

For once, Piper didn't give a quick remark. Even Percy and Hazel had fallen silent, which was especially odd for the son of Poseidon.

Then, Percy disappeared underground.

Piper hadn't been aware that it was possible to feel so numb. Three of her friends were victims now, and by the looks of it Hazel would soon be the fourth. With every second that passed the mud dragged the daughter of Pluto down deeper, and now it was above her shoulders.

Annabeth cleared her throat. "I shouldn't have yelled like that." She apologized, though her eyes were stuck to where Percy had been, not where Hazel was. "Even if we don't know what it is, we can still fight whatever's down there."

All three of them sank down deeper into the mud, which now seemed to be climbing its way around their skin and making the trip quicker.  
Hazel only had a few seconds left.

"...We promise." Piper chipped in, wishing she could do something to wipe the worry from her friends face. "Seriously. We'll kick some monster butt."

Hazel gave what Piper hoped was a laugh, but then the mud reached to her mouth and her eyes filled with fear again.  
Then, she was gone.

Annabeth was next.

"No brilliant last minute ideas?" Piper asked, lowering her eyebrow.

The daughter of Athena shot her a glare.

"Woah, woah, relax. Like you said, we can always fight our way out."

Annabeth bit her lip. "If we die-"

"We won't."

"But if we _do_... who's going to save Olympus from Gaea? I know that Nico and Reyna are trying to fix the rift between the Romans and Greeks, but even if our camps unite, _we're_ the members of the prophecy for a reason. Jason, Percy, you, me, Hazel, Frank, and Leo... we can't fail at this."

Piper rolled her eyes. "The gods can choose some other special seven to save them, then."

Annabeth frowned. "I'm not joking around, Piper." She said, and Piper felt bad for trying to get a laugh out of the situation. Annabeth was always the one who had it together, seeing her so worried about something should have told the girl to try to help calm her down.

"You already said it, Chase. We're the members of the prophecy for a _reason_, no way we'd fail at this. Heck, maybe we can't fail at all!" Piper said as enthusiastically as she could. "The Fates wouldn't have picked a bunch of losers to save the world and planned for them to die, right?"

"...Right."

"Good. We'll all make it out of this."

Annabeth nodded, then was pulled deeper into the mud so it came up past her mouth. Seconds passed, maybe a minute, and suddenly Annabeth drew in a large breath just as she sank enough so the mud covered her nose.  
Not even ten seconds passed before she was completely under.

Alone now, Piper realized that she was absolutely terrified.

After about a minute of fearful waiting, something under the mud began tugging at her left foot and Piper felt a rush of terror. It must have been the same thing that Percy had spoken of, but the girl hadn't expected it to literally be trying to drag her downwards.

Mom, Piper thought as she strained her neck to keep her head above the ground. If you can do anything, just don't let any one of us die.

She wasn't really sure how much control the goddess of love had over life and death, but hopefully Aphrodite could pull a few strings to keep the six demigods alive. And Leo. Whatever situation the guy was in at the moment, Piper hoped it wasn't quite as terrifying as being eaten by dirt.

With one last little wish to her mother, Piper was pulled down under.

* * *

If she had known what was going to happen when she opened her eyes, maybe Piper wouldn't have been as scared as she was fifteen seconds before.

At first she had felt someone shaking her shoulder, which she automatically assumed was a monster checking if she was dead. Then she had heard someone saying her name, which reasonably she thought was a cylops mimicing someones voice. And then finally, her leg began to fall asleep and her eyes snapped open from the feeling of pins and needles.

What she saw thankfully wasn't a monsters lair, but it definitely wasn't a very welcoming sight despite her friends all being well and alive.

It looked like some sort of cave, except Piper couldn't see an actual opening aside from the roof (which was literally dripping down and looked like it was about to colapse, by the way). The walls were jagged rocks, and barely any light shone through so everything looked like it was engulfed in shadows.

"Oh thank gods, you're awake." Jason said, rushing over to her side. "You hit your head pretty hard... does it hurt?"

Piper hadn't even noticed the headache, but as soon as Jason mentioned it her skull began to throb.

"Ow, yeah. Where are we?"

"No clue." Jason replied, rubbing his forehead. "Hazel's trying to find a way out, but it doesn't look like there's any exits unless we climb back up."

From the far wall, Percy snorted. "Too bad there's no good footholds, Grace."

Piper frowned. "Something grabbed my foot, though. Is there-"

"We thought it'd be better if we just brought you down instead of letting you panic." Jason answered, giving a shrug. "Frank really freaked Percy out with that idea."

"He's awake?"

Jason nodded to where the other demigod was. Sitting on the floor with his head in his hands and murming something in Latin, was good ol' Frank Zhang.

"Is he okay?" Piper asked, raising an eyebrow. He didn't get any ambrosia from earlier because he had been unconsious, and now he had suffered yet another fall. Piper hoped that the guy hadn't hit his head too hard.

"He'll be fine." Jason assured her, though his voice led her to believe he was doubtful. Piper cast another glance at Frank before turning her gaze back to Jason.

"What about you?"

Jason smiled. "I'm fine, too."

Piper felt as if that single moment was perfect, like it was something that only happened in movies or books. Jason's eyes, despite the darkness around them, shone their usual light blue and his smile was somehow charming even with it's imperfect little scar. Piper would have kissed him if not for the others being able to see.

And then, Annabeth's alarmed voice ripped Piper out of the perfect moment.

"The roof is sealing up!" Annabeth said, pointing upwards.

Piper scowled and looked upwards. She didn't know what she expected, but she saw exactly what Annabeth had exclaimed.

The patches where the light shone through were making their way together, making a wall of earth between the six demigods and the surface.

"Oh, gods no." Piper whispered, pushing past Jason and rushing towards the far wall. She hadn't even noticed it before, but there were holes lining the entire stone. Round little passage ways that buried into the earth, all of them beginning to pour out water.


End file.
